Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2024
Journal Title
Gender/Sexuality/Italy
Volume Number
10
Issue Number
I-II
Version
Publisher PDF: the final published version of the article, with professional formatting and typesetting
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC-ND License.
Disciplines
Italian Language and Literature
Abstract
Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron (1349-51) has long been regarded as a secular celebration of humanity. Yet, his choice of title—a play on hexameron—frames his short story collection as a gloss on Genesis. In this essay, I argue that the author’s reevaluation of scripture is an essential part of his vision of a post-plague society in which gender roles have been redefined. Boccaccio challenges traditional interpretations of the biblical account of humanity’s creation and fall, in which Woman/Eve is primarily blamed for Original Sin and its consequences. He implies that such misogynistic readings have served to subjugate women, and thus offers an alternate version, a “new Genesis.” Furthermore, he identifies women readers, previously excluded from the practice of biblical exegesis, as the rightful interpreters of humanity’s new origin story
Digital USD Citation
Asaro, Brittany, "The Redemption of Eve: The Decameron as New Genesis" (2024). Italian and Italian Studies: Faculty Scholarship. 4.
https://digital.sandiego.edu/italian-faculty/4